How big is the SETI@home project?
It is an international effort with well over a million participants.
How do I see the current Team Saugus statistics?
Check out the results
maintained by the University of California in Berkeley.
How current are they?
They aren't current to the minute, but they are current to within a few hours.
Why do the stats sometimes seem not to add up right?
There's a time delay between when individual
results get updated and when the group totals get
updated (in fact, group totals can lag behind
individual totals by a few days). Plus, if someone
leaves the group, their results while a member of
the group are still counted toward the group's totals.
What do the CPU times mean?
Roughly speaking how long a computer has actually spent working on
the project.
Why are some total CPU times huge?
People can have more than one computer working in parallel on
the project, or may have a multiple processor machine.
How come different members of Team Saugus have different averages?
Different computer types run at different speeds. There's
a huge difference between different processors
and different OSes. Faster
machines will produce results with lower average times. Plus, there
are slight differences between data sets, and that will also
create slight variations.
How do I start looking for aliens?
Basically follow the steps outlined on the Local SETI Group page.
Do I have to use my real name?
No, handles and nicknames are both fine.
Do I have to use my real e-mail address?
Yes, that must be real, unless you want to enter
anonymously under the Saugus SETI
user. If you choose this option, just indicate that
you are a returning user and enter
seti@saugus.net as an e-mail
address. All results will automatically be applied
to the Saugus SETI
team. Even if you do use your own e-mail address, you can control
whether or not it gets displayed anywhere so you can still keep it
private.
How do I join Team Saugus?
Basically follow the steps outlined on the Local SETI
Group page. Once you've started running the SETI
program, it's mostly just a matter of going to the
Join Team Saugus page and signing up. Note the next question, though.
What's my password?
You've set up an account, started a run, and tried to join the
Saugus team only to find that it needs a password. Berkeley
assigns numerical passwords to all participants;
look for the "If you don't know your password"
prompt on the Join Team Saugus page. It'll cause a copy of
your password to be e-mailed to you.